Beer dispensing faucet



Oct. 19, 1937; s E. RICHESON BEER DISPENSING FAUCET Filed Sept. 14, 1936-S'ANF0R0 ER/c-HEso/v INVENTO'R ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 19, 1937 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE 13 Claims.

My invention relates to faucets and has particular reference to faucetsfor dispensing beer and similar beverages.

In dispensing beer it is important that a requisite amount of foam beformed on top of the liquid in a glass. Beer, however, not always hasthe proper content of carbon dioxide for forming the right amount offine foam. Often beer is charged too heavily and has tendency to formlarge bubbles which rapidly break up causing beer to become stale orflat. This effect is often accentuatedby the construction of beerfaucets, which have restricted passages, so that beer experiences rapidchanges in the rate of flow, ex pands or contracts, the effect of suchrapid changes being energetic liberation of gas in the form of large andshort lived bubbles. On the other hand, beer is sometimes cooled to suchan extent that the normal formation of foam is considerably impeded,especially with the modern systems of refrigeration.

The object of my invention istherefore to provide a faucet which, whenopened, affords an unrestricted flow for a liquid so as to prevent anysudden changes in its rate of flow and pressure. For this purpose Iprovide a valve in the faucet pivotally supported in such manner that itcan be turned completely out of the way of the flowing liquid.

Another object of my invention is to provide means ,for graduallyreducing the rate of flow of beer before it reaches the valve proper,thereby gradually reducing its pressure, the crosssectional area of thereceiving portion of the faucet being for this purpose graduallyincreased toward the valve.

Another object of my invention is to provide means for automaticallycontrolling the expansion of the liquid in accordance with the degree ofopening the valve, in order to control the foam formation. For thispurpose I provide a floating cone in the expansion portion of thefaucet, the cone being adapted to be moved by the liquid against thetension of an adjustable spring.

Another object of my invention is to provide a small supplementary valvein the main valve 01. the faucet for admitting beer into the glass inthe form of a fine straight spray, the supplementary valve beingrendered operative by a -small movement of the faucet handle, before itis turned into the open position for delivering beer.

My invention is more fully described in the accompanying specificationand drawing in which- Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of a modified Ifaucet, showing it in the fully closed position.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the same in a fully open position.

Fig. 3 is a top view of the same. My faucet consists of a valve housing46 with (Cl. 22H) a valve seat" and a discharge tube 48 at the bottom.The seat 41 is closed by a valve plug 49, preferably made of someelastic material like rubber. A rod 50 is slidably fitted in the plug 49and is retained by a collar on top and a ring 52 at the bottom. A fork53 is located on the rod between the collar 5| and nuts 54. The fork ison the end of an arm 55 mounted on ashaft 56 journaled in the walls ofthe housing 45 and having a handle 38 at one end. The plug 49 is shorterthan the distance between the collar 5| and ring 52, so that the collar5| is raised above the plug when the valve is opened, as shown in Fig.2. The rod 50 has a small hole 5'! inside in communication with radialholes 58 and 59. As may be seen in Fig. 1, the hole 58 is closed by thecollar 5| resting on the plug when the valve is closed. By slightlyturning the handle into the open position, the fork raises the rod 5|until the ring 52 rests against the lower end of the plug. In thisposition the hole 58 is uncovered, permitting beer to flow through thehole 51 and radial hole 59 in the form of a fine spray, breaking upagainst the walls of the tube 48. The hole 59 is below the ring 52 andremains open at all times.

A receiving tube 60 extends from the side of the housing 46 and has athreaded head 4 for screwing it on the end of a beer supply pipe (notshown). The tube 60 is of a conical shape inside, expanding from adiameter substantially smaller than the diameter of the tube 48, to amuch larger diameter at the housing, A floating cone 6| is placed in theconical tube 60, conforming to its shape inside. It has a tubular recess.62 at the front end for a spring 63 resting against the end of a lever64.

The lever' 64,is pivoted on a pin 65 passing through the walls of apocket 66 at the side of the tube 60. The other end of the lever isengaged by a screw 61. By turning the screw, the lever is moved so as tochange the tension of the spring 63.

The lever passes through a slot in the cone 6| and a. similar slot inthe tube 62. The spring 63 tends to press the cone 6! into the tube 60thereby closing the passage for the beer. As soon as the valve isopened, however, the pressure of beer overcomes the tension of thespring 62 and pushes the cone outward thereby opening a passage for beeras shown in Fig. 2. The area of the passage gradually increases therebycausing beer to expand and to retard in its motion, the correspondingchange in its pressure causing liberation of the carbonic acid. The rateof change of pressure being very gradual, the gas formation will be alsoretarded, so that gas will form very fine bubbles. The resultant foamwill be of a. fine, creamy nature, lasting for a. relatively long time.

The housing 46 is closed by a cover 6| screwed on top and permitting aconvenient access to the valve for its repairs or replacement.

It is understood that my invention may be further modified withoutdeparting from its spirit as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

l. A faucet comprising a receiving tube, a delivering tube, a valvehousing with a valve seat between the tubes, a valve plug for closingthe seat, a lever operatively connected with the plug, a handle on thelever for manually operating the plug, and an auxiliary valve of arelatively small area adapted to be opened by a small'movement of thehandle prior to lifting the plug from its seat, the auxiliary valvebeing adapted to deliver the liquid in a finely dispersed .state.

2. A faucet comprising a receiving tube, a delivering tube, a valvehousing between the tubes with a valve seat, a valve plug for clomng theseat, a tubular rod slidably passing through the plug, means to limitthe relative movements of the rod in the plug, a lever engaging the rod,a, handle operatively connected with the lever for raisin the plug bythe rod thereby opening the valve, the rod being provided withtransverse apertures adapted to establish communication for a liquidbetween the tubes, said apertures being adapted to be opened'when therod is raised by the first portion of themovement of the handle prior toraising the plug.

3. A faucet comprising a" receiving tube, a delivering tube, a valvehousing between the tubes,

a manually operable valve in the housing, the receivlng tube being of agradually expanding section toward the valve, and means in the receivingtube controlled by the fiowof a liquid for regu-,- lating the area ofthe expanding passage to accommodate varying volumes of liquid flow soas to increase the area of the passage for greater flow.

4. A faucet comprising a receiving tube, adelivering tube, a valvehousing between the tubes, a manually operable valve in the housing, thereoeiving tube being of an expanding section toward the valve, afloating cone-shaped member in the receiving tube, a spring adapted topress the member toward the narrow end of the tube, and means to adjustthe compression of the spring.

5. A faucet comprising a receiving tube, a delivering tube for a liquid,a manually operable valve between the tubes, the receiving tubebeing ofa gradually expanding section toward the valve, a member movablysupported in the receiving tube and adapted to restrict the passage forthe liquid, and a retrieving spring for the member, the member beingadapted to be moved by the flow of the liquid against the compression ofthespring thereby enlarging the passage in accordance with the intensityof the flow. t

6. A faucet comprising a receiving tube, a delivering tube for a liquid,a manually operable valve between the tubes, the receiving tube being ofa gradually expanding section toward the valve, a member movablysupported in the receiving tube and adapted to restrict the passage ofthe liquid causing the same to gradually expand, a retrieving spri ngfor the member, member being adapted to be moved against the spring bythe flow of the liquid therebyenlarging the passage, and means tomanually adjust the qmnpression of the spring.

I. A faucet comprising a receiving tube, a delivering tflie, a valvehousing between the tubes aooaaoa with a valve seat, a valve plug forclosing the seat, a rod slidably fitted in the plug, means to limit themovements of the rod in the plug, a. handle operatively connected withthe rod, the rod being adapted to permit the fiow of a fine spray of aliquid through the valve when said rod is raised by the handle butbefore the plug is lifted from its seat.

8. A faucet comprising a receiving tube, a delivering tube, a valvehousing between the tubes,

a manually operable valve in the housing, means to gradually expand thecross-sectional area of a passage for a liquid in the receiving tube,and means to regulate the size of said area by the flow of the liquid.said regulating means being adapted to increase the area when actuatedby a greater fiow of the liquid.

9. A faucet comprising a receiving tube, a delivering tube, a valvehousing between the tubes, a manually operable valve in the'housing,means to gradually expand the cross-sectional area of a passage for aliquid in the receiving tube, means to regulate the size of said area bythe fiow of the liquid, said regulating means being adapted to increasethe area when actuated by a greater fiow of the liquid, and means tomanually adjust the regulating means, 7 V V 10. A faucet comprising areceiving tube, a delivering tube, -a valve housing between the tubeswith a valve seat, a valve plug in the housing adapted to close thevalve seat, means to manually raise the plug thereby opening a passagethrough the valve seat, and a supplementary valve in the plug adapted tobe opened by a small motion of the manual means prior to raising theplug. t

11. A faucet comprising a receiving tube, s. de-' livering tube, a valvehousing between the tubes with a valve seat, a valve plug adapted toclose the valve seat, means to manually raise the plug from the seat,and a supplementary valve in the plug adapted to be opened by a smallmotion of the manual means prior to raising the nil 18, and furtheradapted to deliver a liquid through the plug in the form of a fine spraydirected against the side walls of the delivering tube at an angle tothe axis of the supplementary valve.

12. Afaucet comprising a receiving tube, a delivering tube, a manuallyoperable valve between the tubes, the receiving tube being of agradually expanding section toward the valve, a member movably supportedin the expanding portion adapted to form a gradually expanding annularpassage for a liquid, and a yieldable member adapted to move the firstmentioned member toward the narrow portion of the receiving tube andagainst the flow of the liquid, the first mentioned member being adaptedto be moved back against the action of the yieldable member by the flowof the liquid thereby proportionately increasing the cross-sectionalarea of the expanding passage at all points along its length with thegreater fiow of the liquid.

13.- A method 0! dispensing beverages containing gases, consisting. inpassing a beverage through a gradually expanding passage therebygradually reducing pressure in the beverage, and regulatingthe'cross-sectional area of the passage by the-flow of the beverage soas to increase the area with greater rate of flow while retainingsubstantially the same rate oi expansion for dif- "W8 01 flow. sam onna. nrcanson.

